Councilman Chris Bortz is denying allegations that he threatened a trash worker and used a racial slur. / Enquirer file photo

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Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Bortz says allegations that he threatened a trash worker Thursday morning and called the man a racial slur are untrue.

No charges have been filed. The complaint is an allegation that will be investigated by a Cincinnati police detective who will determine if charges are warranted.

Bortz, who recently announced he would seek a fourth term, said he was at his town home in Mount Adams when, at about 7:15 a.m., he heard a loud horn. He saw a trash collection truck, he said, with the driver honking because he couldn't get around Bortz's car.

The councilman said he ran out, yelled several times to the man something like, "There's no need to honk, I'm moving my car." The man was saying something to him, Bortz said, but Bortz couldn't hear what it was.

He was shocked when he learned the encounter with the workers had resulted in them reporting that he used the slur and threatened to shoot the man.

"I would never use that term," Bortz said of the racial slur. "And anybody who knows me knows I'm neither menacing nor a racist."

This account is only Bortz's. No documents were available Thursday night and Detective Finnis Bonner, who works in District 1, could not be reached for comment. Bortz said he spoke with Bonner Thursday night.

The workers knew he was a councilman, Bortz said, because after he moved the car, the female sanitation worker working with the truck driver struck up a conversation with him about council's recent discussions about trash collection. Bortz described it as "a very pleasant conversation."

He called it "unconscionable" that anyone would fabricate such allegations.